Tesco Wage Issues

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42968342

Just recently, Tesco, a supermarket company, received the largest equal pay claim in the UK at a staggering four billion british pounds. Numerous claims similar to this have been instituted in companies across the UK in hopes of closing the wage gap between female and male dominated jobs. The push for change is riding on the laws passed in 1984 stating, “Workers doing jobs that require comparable skills, have similar levels of responsibility and are of comparable worth to the employer, should also be rewarded equally.” Lawyers supporting the case for equal pay state female workers have a lower paycheck than men and in fact, recent statistics show that women in the UK are normally paid £8 to a man’s

£11 per hour in comparable work environments and fields. With the new claim aimed towards Tesco, female workers under that company are possibly receiving 20,000 pounds to compensate for the years of unequal pay. As of now, Tesco is facing changes to their worker wages and women all across the UK are pushing to close the lingering wage gap.

The pay claim aimed towards Tesco will affect all workers under the company, specifically women, as well as employees across the country pushing for change.

Leigh Day solicitors state that up to 200,000 workers in the supermarket industry could be affected by the push for equal wages, positively impacting underappreciated and unfairly paid women. These wage concerns addressed will impact the UK politically by bringing notice to revising nationwide rules for comparing jobs and determining wages. Since 1984, job wages have been set by experts scoring each field of work on, “considerations such as how demanding they are physically, mentally and emotionally.” The current criteria may need to be revised because numerous employees, mainly women, feel unfairly categorized and that the current wages do not accurately illustrate the amount of work they commit. Lastly, the pay claim affects the country economically by impacting the overall spending for companies due to revised and raised wages. In short, closing the wage gap has been an ongoing problem in British society, but the matter has recently blown up and became a major concern countless citizens are currently fighting for. The events occuring in the UK are very much similar to the time of the enlightenment when rights for women became more prevalent in society and women fought for equal footing with men in the

workplace.

Do you think jobs of comparable skills and labor should be paid the same? Do you think this system is fair?
How long do you think it will take to close the wage gap? Will it ever be achieved?
Why do you think jobs dominated by women are paid less (Cleaner vs Binmen)?
How do you think companies will address the sudden increase in labor costs?